Hippo APC

Hippo
Armscor Hippo at the SAPS Museum, Ventersburg
Type	Armoured personnel carrier
Place of origin	South Africa
Service history
In service	1974 - 1978^[1]
Used by	See Operators
Wars	Rhodesian Bush War South African Border War Namibian War of Independence Soweto uprising
Production history
Designer	Armscor South Africa
Designed	1974^[2]
Manufacturer	Armscor South Africa
No. built	275 (Mk 1-R)^[2] 402 (Mk 1-M)^[3]
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	8.8 tonnes (9.7 short tons; 8.7 long tons)^[1]
Length	6.53 m (21 ft 5 in)^[2]
Width	2.46 m (8 ft 1 in)^[2]
Height	3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)^[2]
Crew	2
Passengers	10

Main armament	2x 7.62mm M1919 Browning machine guns^[1]
Engine	Bedford 2.5 L (150 in³) inline 6-cylinder water-cooled petrol^[2]
Transmission	ZF 4-speed manual synchromesh (2nd, 3rd, 4th gears)^[2]^[3]
Ground clearance	32 cm^[2]
Fuel capacity	240 litres^[2]
Operational range	640 km^[1]
Maximum speed	73 km/h^[1]

The Hippo is a South African armoured personnel carrier. Specially designed to be mine resistant, it can carry ten infantrymen and a crew of two.^[3] The vehicle's remote-operated turret mounts dual 7.62mm machine guns, but like other improvised fighting vehicles, it is only lightly protected against ballistic threats.^[3]

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Development history

An interim solution adopted to deal with the threat of land mines deployed by the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) in northern Ovamboland, the Hippo was simply a blastproof hull fitted to a Bedford RL chassis. Similar to the BTR-152, it offered a staggered troop compartment with seating facing inwards. Vision was restricted to narrow plate glass windows. This layout was universally unpopular and later corrected with the Buffel.^[2] There were firing ports for the occupants and a powered machine gun turret could be braced on the open top, though these were seldom fitted. Passengers and crew debussed from a rear deck.^[2]

The Hippo Mk1-R was based on a M1961 Bedford truck chassis, which was being phased from South African service in 1974.^[1] The Mk1-R was manufactured using mild steel and RB390 armour steel.^[3] Some 150 Mk1-R were ordered and shipped to the South African Police in 1974, another 5 being donated to the South-West African authorities.^[2] Police units left behind several when they withdrew from Rhodesia in 1976; these were retained by Rhodesian Security Forces and later passed on to the Zimbabwe National Army.^[4] In 1978, 120 Hippo Mk1-R conversions of M1970 Bedfords was undertaken for the South African Defence Force, which had assumed responsibility for patrols along the Angolan border and needed a new mine protected vehicle. The Hippo Mk1-M used ROQ TUFF steel instead of mild steel. The South African Army ordered 402 Mk1-M.^[3]

The Hippo served its purpose for the South African Army but it was heavy, and lacked true off-road capability. A new mine-protected vehicle had been designed in April 1976 although it would be another two years before the Buffel would eventually replace the Hippo as the Army's premier troop-carrying mine-protected vehicle.^[3]

Variants

Hippo Mk1-R - 1974 model, built on the 1961 Bedford chassis.
Hippo Mk1-M - 1978 model, built on the 1970 Bedford chassis.

Operators

In popular culture

The Hippo made some appearances in television and film productions shot in Zimbabwe and set in the Apartheid era of the 1970s-1980s. In one such production, the British 1987 epic apartheid drama film Cry Freedom, ZNA Hippos appear on several scenes portraying South African Defence Force (SADF) and South African Police (SAP) armoured vehicles.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Lesakeng". South African Armour Museum. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Heitman, Helmoed-Römer. South African Armed Forces. Buffalo Publications 1990. ISBN 0-620-14878-0 p 44.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Surviving The Ride. 30 Degrees South. 19 September 2014. ISBN 978-1-928211-17-4. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b Nelson, Harold. Zimbabwe: A Country Study. pp. 237–317.
^ Moorcraft, Paul L.; McLaughlin, Peter (April 2008) [1982]. The Rhodesian War: A Military History. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-84415-694-8.

External links

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Hippo

Bibliography

Peter Abbott, Philip Botham & Mike Chappell, Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965–80, Men-at-arms series 183, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1986. ISBN 9780850457285
Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80, P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. ISBN 0-473-02413-6
Peter Stiff, Taming the Landmine, Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986. ISBN 9780947020040

v t e Armoured fighting vehicles of South Africa
Armoured cars	Eland Marmon-Herrington Rooikat
Infantry Fighting Vehicles	Badger Mbombe Ratel
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)	Buffel Casspir Hippo Mamba Marauder Matador Maverick Okapi RCV-9 Reva RG-12 RG-19 RG-31 Nyala RG-32 Scout RG-33 RG-34 RG-35 RG-41 RG Outrider PUMA M26-15
Artillery, transport and combat engineering	Husky VMMD Meerkat G6 Rhino Mfezi Valkiri SAMIL Bateleur
Related articles	List of equipment of the South African Army South African Army

v t e Vehicles of the South African Defence Force
Communication Vehicles	Land Rover Landrover Forward Control Jeep Gladiator Willys Jeep
Cargo Vehicles	Bedford Unimog Samil-20 Samil-50 Sakom-50 Samil-100
Armoured personnel carriers	Saracen Hippo Buffel Casspir
Infantry Fighting Vehicles	Ratel range of IFVs
Main Battle Tanks	Centurion Mk 3
Armoured Cars / Reconnaissance Vehicles	Marmon-Herrington Panhard Eland range of armoured cars Rooikat

Mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles

v t e Modern wheeled infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers
Overviews	Armored car Scout car Reconnaissance vehicle Armoured reconnaissance
4×4	ABC-79M APR-1V Akrep Akrep II Aravis AVGP AV-VB4 Bastion BOV BPM-97 BTR-40 Buffel (Unicorn) Bullet Burraq Bushmaster Cashuat Casspir (Mahindra MPV-I) Chaimite Cheetah MMPV CM6614 Cobra Cobra II Cockerill i-X Commando Condor Cougar Crocodile Didgori-1 Didgori-2 Dingo Dragoon 300 Dzik Fahd First Win Gazelle Golan Academi Grizzly GTP Grizzly Hippo Hunter TR-12 Igirigi ILAV Kaya Kirpi Komodo Kozak LOV-1 M3 M1117 M-ATV Mamba MAP45 MAP75 Marauder Matador Maverick MaxxPro Mohafiz MPCV MR-8 MX-8 MXT-MV Nimer-1 Nimr PNP Iveco Lince Iveco Puma OTT Puma P2 Rakhsh Ranger RCV-9 RG-12 RG-19 RG-31 RG-32 RG-32M RG-33 RG-34 Reva Roland Saxon Senator Sarir Shorland S600 Simba SK-1 TAD Turangga TAPV Tarantula HMAV Timoney (BDX) TM-170 UR-416 URO VAMTAC Unibuffel Unicob VAB VBL Gladiador VN-4 VXB-170 Wolf Walid Wer'wolf WZ-550 Żubr
6×6	Al-Faris APS-2 APS-3 Anoa Avalon BTR-152 Bull Bulat Caiman Cougar Didgori-3 EE-11 Urutu Ejder Fuchs Grizzly K806 White Tiger Mbombe 6 Okapi Otaman Pandur I Panhard VCR Pasi (XA-180) Patria 6×6 Pegaso BMR Protolab Misu Iveco Puma Mowag Puma Ratel RG-35 RN-94 Alvis Saracen Shoet SIBMAS Tatrapan Typhoon VAB Valuk VBTP-MR Guarani VBMR Griffon WZ-523 WZ-551
8×8	Al-Fahd ATOM AV8 AMV Arma Armoured Multirole Carrier Boxer BTR-3 BTR-4 BTR-7 BTR-60 BTR-70 BTR-80 BTR-90 BTR-94 Bumerang CM-32 Eitan Enigma Freccia K808 White Tiger Kestrel Lazanski BVT Lazar Lazar BVT Lazar 2 Lazar 3 MPC OT-64 SKOT Pandur II Panus R600 Pars Piranha LAV II LAV-25 ASLAV Bison and Coyote LAV III Stryker LAV 6 Piranha IV Piranha V RG-41 RN-94 Rosomak Ryś Saur 1 Shark SuperAV TAB-63 TAB-71 Terrex ICV Type 07P Type 08 Type 96 VBCI Wisent Yavuz YP-408
10×10	GPV General Piranha JRVG-1A
Related	Motor pool Mechanized infantry Navboxes: {{WWII US Soft Vehicles}} {{Modern reconnaissance vehicles}} {{Modern UK fighting vehicles}}

This page was last edited on 28 October 2023, at 22:28

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